Lead in Lipstick

What is lead?Lead is a naturally occurring element in the Earth’s crust. It is usually found combined with other elements in mineral ores.Lead and its compounds are known to cause adverse health effects in humans.

What’s the myth?That lipstick contains toxic levels of lead is a persistent and recurring myth that causes unnecessary alarm every time it is aired.

The American Council on Science and Health rated lead in lipstick as the ‘Number 1 Unfounded Health Scare’ in 2007.

FACT: Lead is not intentionally added to any lipstickLead-containing ingredients are not used in lipsticks.

However, trace levels of lead may be present as impurities in other ingredients, since lead is found naturally in air, water and soil. This is the case not only for lipstick, but for other products as well. Impurities such as these are termed “incidental” ingredients.

FACT: Very low lead levels in lipsticks do not pose a health riskAt high levels, lead has known toxic effects that can cause a range of health problems. Lead also accumulates in the body, being stored primarily in bones.

However, the low lead levels found in lipsticks do not pose a safety concern.

The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has monitored the issue of trace lead in lipstick since the 1990s. Their most recent study of lead levels in 400 lipsticks, published in 2011, found lead at levels ranging from 0.026 to 7.19 ppm (parts per million) with an average of 1.11 ppm. “Using lipstick containing lead at this level would result in exposure 1000 times less than from daily consumption of water meeting EPA drinking water standards.”[2]

FACT: Only a very small proportion of applied lipstick is absorbed or ingestedThere are various estimates in circulation regarding the amount of lipstick swallowed by an average woman in her lifetime. For example, in 2002 the Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun reported that “the average woman swallows about 4.5 kg in a lifetime”.[3]

Let’s put this figure to the test. Let’s assume a woman uses lipstick from roughly the ages of 15 to 75. Let’s take the average weight of lipstick in a tube to be 3 grams.[3] A woman would have to use - and ingest - every single bit of 25 lipsticks each year.

The snopes.com website goes further and translates one tube of lipstick to approximately 410 applications. 410 applications per 25 lipsticks a year is 28 applications every day – and all swallowed.

Does this sound realistic to you? And this is without factoring in the lipstick that smears off during the day, for example on drinking utensils, or other people, and that lipsticks are not necessarily used right down to the very end.

The bottom line: The trace levels of lead in lipstick pose no threat to human health. You can continue to use lipsticks with confidence. (All 25 tubes yearly…!)